Design and the Natural World
Design and nature have been bound historically by a hierarchical relationship. As that which makes nature more manageable, hygienic, attractive and predictable, design has acted as a means of harnessing, structuring or controlling the volatile forces of nature for human benefit. Through processes of biomimicry, designers have also turned to natural forms and structures in order to create more efficient and sustainable design solutions. Nonetheless, regardless of whether it is understood as a source of conflict or inspiration, nature has been framed problematically as passive and inert—waiting to be studied, appropriated, contained or mimicked by the creative practice of design.
In the exhibition ‘Second Nature’, directed by Tokujin Yoshioka for 21_21 Design Sight in Tokyo, a more open and dynamic approach to the relationship between design and nature is promoted. Rather than mimicking the forms of nature, Yoshioka draws on the sense of wonder associated with our experience of nature in an attempt to challenge our expectations for contemporary design. The exhibition title speaks to Yoshioka’s desire to foster an alternative understanding of nature, and must not be confused with the conventional English definition of second nature as a deeply ingrained habit. Epitomised by high modernist design, the principles of order, structure and purity of form distance us from what Yoshioka refers to as our ‘first nature’: those emotional, sensory and physical impulses that unsettle reason.1 Despite (or perhaps because of) our alienation from the natural environment in industrialised societies, nature’s power and diversity continues to surprise and sometimes overwhelm us. Yoshioka is interested in that enduring power of nature to defy imagination, and grounds his ideas for the future of design in this ‘second nature’.
Eight diverse ‘creators’... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline